Identity construction and social cohesion: the case of French high school students in boarding schools

Social, economic and political contexts prompt people towards various behaviors that guide their actions. In a time of crisis, individualism, strategy, and competition, highlighted among other behaviors by social action sociologists (Boltanski, Thévenot, 1989; Derouet, 2000), remain frequently observed behaviors potentially leading to withdrawal, the loss of social cohesion, the development of conflicts or even societal anomie (Durkheim). Within the context of a society in crisis, school is forced to take its part of the responsibility in the support of students before they enter a working life bound to be rather unstable. Thus, among the potential educational spaces outside the classroom, we took a special interest in boarding school structures.
Keywords: boarding school – rites – interactions – construction of the self